Deadline near for Clarksville petitions on supermarket wine sales

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – Just over a week remains until the deadline for delivering any petitions to the Montgomery County Election Commission seeking a November referendum on the question of whether there should be wine sold in Clarksville grocery stores.

In the meantime, local Administrator of Elections Vickie Koelman says lists of names of people wanting a referendum are coming in to her office, and there is still a chance that Clarksville city voters will be allowed to decide whether supermarket wine sales should be allowed here.

Koelman has said that, because this law allowing wine sales by community referendum originates with state government, any local petition must be signed by a number of registered Clarksville city voters equal to 10 percent of the city's registered voters in the last Tennessee gubernatorial election.

That registered number was 21,751, she has said, so the petition must be signed by at least 2,157 people to become valid and place a referendum on the Nov. 4 State General and City Election ballot.

All signatures must be gathered and the petition must be filed with the local Election Commission by Thursday, Aug. 21, which is 75 days before the Nov. 4 election, for a referendum to appear on the ballot.

“We are still in the process of verifying signatures,” Koelman told The Leaf-Chronicle, Tuesday. “They have been bringing them in for a while, now, and that way they know how many more they need each week (to reach the minimum number required). It should be very soon that I will be able to approve the total.”

Petitions are generally circulating via the "Red, White and Food" campaign of middle Tennessee that can potentially get the referendum on the November ballot asking city voters whether to allow wine sales in Clarksville grocery stores.

"Petition drives are ongoing in Clarksville," said area petition coordinator Susie Alcorn. "If enough petition signatures are collected and deemed eligible by the (Montgomery County) Election Commission, the wine-in-retail-food-stores question will go on the ballot for the vote in November. We are encouraged by the amount of support we are receiving in Clarksville, and we need as many registered voters as possible to sign the local petition to reach the goal for this community."

You can find local petition drives on the Red, White and Food website at http://redwhiteandfood.com/events/middle-tennessee/ .

Kroger has the petitions available in its middle Tennessee locations for customers to sign during regular store hours.

Also in Clarksville, Food Lion, 2304 Madison St., has petitions available, as well as Publix stores at 1771 Madison St. and 1490 Tiny Town Road.

The measure to possibly allow grocery store wine sales comes after Gov. Bill Haslam and the Tennessee General Assembly authorized supermarket wine sales in Tennessee earlier this year. Koelman says the law can only be enacted locally within the city limits of Clarksville.

Under the new state law, Koelman said, the question can only be on the ballot within Tennessee jurisdictions that have passed measures allowing liquor sales by the drink or in package stores. Locally, that would include the city of Clarksville, but not Montgomery County outside the city limits.

While the concept of supermarket wine sales has had broad public support according to various polls, the measure had failed in several consecutive legislative sessions amid opposition from liquor wholesalers and package store owners.

The legislation grants authority to cities and counties that have package stores or liquor-by-the-drink sales to hold referendums. And even after that, the earliest wine could be sold in supermarkets and convenience stores would be the summer of 2016 – or, as the law is currently written – a year later for supermarkets and convenience stores located near an existing liquor store.

The measure also allows liquor stores to begin selling items other than booze.

Currently, supermarkets and convenience stores can sell beer containing up to 6.5 percent alcohol by volume. Anything stronger can be sold only in package stores, which can't sell anything beyond booze and lottery tickets.